Interview – Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum chat ’21 Jump Street’

Thanks to Sony Pictures Australia we were invited to interview Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in Sydney ahead of the release of ’21 Jump Street’ on 15 March.

We were joined by other fantastic online film journalists including Richard Gray from The Reel Bits, Matt Pejkovic from Matt’s Movie Reviews and Jessica Chandra from Pop Sugar – we heartily endorse their sites, please visit them.

We chatted with Hill and Tatum – in police uniform – about everything from the fear of being part of adapting a TV show for the big screen, the dramatic first script they were delivered, Hill’s Oscar nomination and Tatum’s work with Stephen Soderbergh on ‘Magic Mike’ and future projects.

Both guys were very welcoming and generous with their answers. Pretty easy to do because they’ve got a dynamite film to promote.

We’ll have the full interview up closer to the 15 March release but check out a teaser below.

Hit the jump to see what they had to say.

Q: Was there a time when you were remaking a 80s TV show when you thought this is a really bad idea?

Tatum: The whole time pretty much.

Hill: Yeah, when they approached me to do it 5 years ago. I tend to roll my eyes like everyone else would if you hear about a television show being turned into a movie and you kind of think, this kind of seems like a corporate cash grab or whatever just to play on something that was popular a long time ago, but we make that joke in the movie 3 minutes into the film saying like hey, we get what you’re thinking and we’re going to call it out before you can and show you it’s a way better movie than you think you’re about to see. You know for us it was just about, if you could go back and live the most important period of your youth thinking you have all the answers and then getting back there and all the answers you think you have a wrong, that’s a cool idea for a film so that’s kind of the reason why I did it.

Tatum: I wonder if you changed the title of this movie would most people even know what it was? It has nothing almost to do, like it’s not like we’re playing the same characters from the TV show or anything, it’s a whole new re-imagination of it. Cause you know young kids (whispers) they don’t know what ’21 Jump Street’ is (laughter), they don’t have a clue, I’m 31 and I was like ’21 Jump Street’ what? This is awesome, and then I’m like, wait a minute? That shits not on the air anymore (more laughter).

’21 Jump Street’ is released 15 March 2012.

Full interview will be posted closer to the release date with fancy audio.

Synopsis:

Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) are more than ready to leave their adolescent problems behind. Joining the police force and the secret Jump Street unit, they go undercover in a local high school to investigate a dangerous drug ring. As they trade in their guns for backpacks, they realise they must confront the terror and anxiety of being a teenager again and all the issues they thought they had left behind.